Libya must free Guardian reporter; obstruction continues

New York, March 11, 2011--The Committee to Protect
Journalists calls for the immediate release of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, left, a
correspondent for London's Guardian newspaper whom Libyan officials now
acknowledge holding in detention. CPJ also demands that authorities halt ongoing
obstruction and intimidation of journalists. A number of foreign journalists invited
to cover events in the capital were prevented today from reporting on
anti-government protesters in a Tripoli neighborhood, according to news reports.

After The Guardian
this week issued a public plea for information on Abdul-Ahad's whereabouts, the
Libyan Foreign Ministry in Tripoli acknowledged that the reporter was in state custody,
the newspaper reported
late Thursday. The basis of the detention was not disclosed. Abdul-Ahad, an
award-winning war correspondent, had been reporting from an area near the
coastal city of Zawiya, where there has been heavy fighting between rebels and
forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi. He had dropped from sight after contacting his
paper through a third party on Sunday, according to The Guardian.

"We are relieved that the Libyan authorities have at last
acknowledged holding Ghaith Abdul-Ahad. The next step is for them to release
him immediately," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The government in
Tripoli invited in the foreign press but has tried to corral them and manage
what they see. It must allow the media to work freely and stop detaining
journalists."

Today, a group of foreign journalists was prevented from covering
protesters who had gathered in a mosque in the Tajoura district of Tripoli, Reuters
reported.
The journalists were approached by men in uniforms, told they must leave, and
then driven back to their hotel. Another reporter who tried to reach Tajoura by
taxi was stopped by police and barred from traveling there, Reuters reported.

Although Libyan authorities had invited international
journalists to report from the capital, they have since sought to restrict
reporting activities. A week ago, on March 4, authorities had prevented
international journalists from reporting on a government crackdown on protests in
the Tajoura district. Foreign journalists also report that they are constantly under
the watch of government minders and, at times, detained by security and military
forces.

Borzou Daragahi, a reporter
for the Los Angeles Times, described
an "almost surreal" atmosphere in which "government
agents in leather trench coats and sunglasses hover at hotel entrances." Daragahi
reported Wednesday that media staff working for eight news outlets, including
the Los Angeles Times, the BBC, and
Agence France-Presse, had been detained Saturday outside Zawiya for nearly
seven hours.

Peter Beaumont, reporting from
Tripoli for The Guardian, reported
Tuesday that "journalists cannot operate freely in Tripoli at all, despite
repeated promises from individuals including [Qaddafi's] son, Saif al-Islam,
and the deputy foreign minister, Khalid Khayem." The Guardian reporter said he had been detained twice since he
arrived in Libya. Among those held near Zawiya for hours on Saturday, Beaumont was later
detained for three hours by military forces at a Tripoli checkpoint. Three
other journalists were detained with him in the Tripoli episode, he said. "As
the country becomes ever more difficult to report from, what is happening to
ordinary Libyan civilians is ever more effectively being censored. And at some
point, by our very presence, in being ineffective we will become accomplices in
that censorship," Beaumont wrote.

Since
Libya's political unrest erupted last month, CPJ has documented more than 40
attacks on the press. They include 25 detentions, four assaults, two attacks on
news facilities, the jamming of Al-Jazeera and Al-Hurra transmissions, at least
three instances of obstruction, and the interruption of Internet service. At
least six local journalists are unaccounted for as of today. Numerous
journalists have also reported the confiscation of equipment. For details, see our daily
coverage: